The Hershey Co. didn't want to listen

I am one of the J-1 Hershey student workers who went on strike Aug. 17 to protest exploitation at the Hershey packing plant. The op-ed author "Big Labor has agenda in Hershey" (Sept. 20) should understand that we, the students, are the ones who decided to go on a sit-down strike.

Before we met anyone from the National Guestworker Alliance or any unions, we realized that the work we were doing at the Hershey plant was not what we signed up for.

We decided to do something about it.

We paid $3,000-$6,000 each to come to the United States with the expectation to improve our English, meet Americans, share our cultures and see new places. But what we got was a hard job that left us only enough time to cook and sleep between work shifts.

After all the deductions from our paychecks, we barely made enough money to pay for food. We decided to reach out for help, and we got in contact with the National Guestworker Alliance.

After the strike, we tried to reach The Hershey Co. about our concerns, but we never heard from it.

We want the 400 Hershey packing plant jobs that we filled to become living-wage jobs for local workers.